You could be perfecting the art of deceleration without ever touching the brake pedal, while others are busy slamming their brakes at every opportunity. It keeps your brakes happy and your fuel consumption low, in addition to making you appear like a driving pro.

Wondering? We’re going to show you how to make your car slow down like an expert while also giving your brake pedal a well-earned rest, so buckle up.

I’m going to explain what engine braking is and how it can benefit you. Your engine can be used to both accelerate and slow down, but only when the clutch is up or at the bite point. If your clutch is fully down, it won’t work because your engine isn’t connected to the wheels, and therefore your gas pedal will have no effect on the car’s speed.

So, this is engine braking. Suppose I’m in 2nd gear. I’m gonna come off the gas, and the car starts slowing down from 30 to 20 mph.

If I press the gas, I’ll start accelerating again—that’s engine accelerating. Come off the gas, and that’s engine braking—the car starts slowing itself down.

However, if I push the clutch down, the car doesn’t speed up or slow down in relation to my gas. I can add gas, but the car doesn’t go faster. I can come off the gas, and the car doesn’t go slower.

If it does go slower, it’s just because of the hill and the friction of the road—it’s not the engine making it slower. If you’re going downhill, the car will actually speed up with the clutch down.

Something else to be aware of is that lower gears give you more accelerating and more braking potential. For example, I’m in 2nd gear, doing about 20 mph, and I’m gonna give a lot of gas. Let’s see how quickly the numbers go up. So I accelerate, and those numbers really go up quite quickly—up to 40 mph. Then, I come off the gas, and the numbers also drop quite quickly, too. That’s in 2nd gear.

If I now put it into 4th gear and try to do the same thing—accelerate hard—now not a lot is happening. Finally, at 30 mph, I come off the gas, and the car doesn’t really slow down much. It’s going down gradually but not as quickly as it was in 2nd gear. So lower gears give you much more potential to accelerate quickly, but they also give you more potential to slow down quickly when you come off the gas.

To be smooth when going down a gear, you’ve got to hold the clutch at the right point. If you come off the clutch too quickly, it will be jerky.

Suppose I’m at 20 mph in 3rd gear, and I’m going to go to 2nd gear. I bring the clutch up carefully. If you want to get rid of the jerkiness, lift the clutch up until you feel the car start to slow down. Once you feel the car start to slow down, hold the clutch still—no higher—and the car will gradually slow down smoothly. Once the car stops slowing down, then you can come fully off the clutch.

So I’ll go back to 3rd gear now to demonstrate how to do that. I’m doing a little bit faster, so I’m about 23 mph. I come off the gas, clutch down, into 2nd, and I carefully lift the clutch until I feel it start to slow down. That’s slowing down now, so I hold the clutch steady, and the car slows down super smoothly.

And now it’s not really slowing down much. I can come gradually all the way off the clutch, and that’s a smooth way to get to a lower gear to give yourself more engine braking. It’s quite a handy way to slow down, and what’s great now is that because my clutch is up, I’m ready to use the gas and accelerate again to get around the problem.

It’s important to know that you don’t have brake lights when you’re using engine braking, but it doesn’t really matter because you slow down very gradually. You only really need to worry about your brake lights when you’re using 1st gear to slow down because 1st gear slows you down very rapidly.

For that reason, I don’t recommend using 1st gear for engine braking. There are two main reasons: the first is that it slows you down harshly and there are no brake lights, as I’ve just said. The second is that it puts a lot of wear on your gear’s synchromesh, and when that wears out, it’s a very expensive replacement. I wouldn’t select 1st gear normally unless I’m under 5 mph.

As I’ve said, I don’t like using 1st gear for engine braking for those reasons, but I’m gonna demonstrate it to you anyway and sacrifice a little bit of wear and tear on my car for your benefit. So I’m in 3rd gear, doing 20 mph, and I’m gonna put it into 1st gear. It’s quite hard because it doesn’t want to go into 1st at this speed.

Now I lift the clutch, and it really slows down quite a lot—it’s gone from around 20 mph down to 10 mph pretty quickly. Recheck that there’s no one behind you because slowing down that quickly without warning people with brake lights could be a little dangerous.

I’m not saying you can’t use 1st gear above 5 mph; I’m just saying don’t select 1st gear when you’re above 5 mph. Once you’re already in 1st gear, you can actually go quite fast—up to 20, maybe even 30 or 40 mph in some cars if you need to. You probably don’t need to most of the time, though. But as long as you don’t select 1st gear at a high speed, your gears should be fine.

It’s obvious why you’d want to use the engine to accelerate—that’s how you move the car. But why would you want to use the engine to slow down? Why not just use the brake? Simply because it’s easier. Most learners make the mistake of going for the brake and clutch every time they want to slow down, but that makes driving really complicated.

Every time you want to slow down, you press the clutch down, which means every time you want to speed back up again, you’ve got to bring the clutch up. That can be jerky if you try to do it quickly. So the less you need to press the clutch, the easier it is to keep the car smooth.

Here’s what it’s like to use the brake and clutch every time you want to slow down. Let’s say there’s a hazard up ahead. I want to slow down, so I press the clutch down and brake. Then I want to go again, so I’ve got to bring the clutch up to the bite point, add a little gas to make it smooth, and then carry on.

Another hazard comes up, so I brake and clutch down again at the same time. It’s safe to go now, so I bring the clutch up to the bite point, add a little gas, and continue. Another hazard—brake and clutch down at the same time. The hazard is gone now, so I bring the clutch up and carry on. That’s the issue with going for the clutch every time you slow down: it makes things more complicated.

Instead, try not to use the clutch unless it’s needed. Of course, if you need to brake, use it, but try not to rely on it. With good planning, you can look far ahead and see hazards early.

Come off the gas as soon as you spot one, and the car will start slowing down. Then you can decide: do I need to brake, or is engine braking enough? Maybe go down a gear for extra engine braking and see if you can time it so the hazard clears by the time you get there.

You might be surprised how often you don’t need to brake. You’ll arrive at the hazard when it’s no longer a problem, and you can simply press the gas and carry on. This approach makes driving smoother and easier. It can also save you money. When you’re off the gas and the car is slowing down using engine braking, your car uses precisely zero fuel.

If you use the gas pedal all the way up to the hazard and then brake, you only get a brief moment of zero fuel usage. If your clutch is down, your car is using fuel anyway. It’s only during engine braking that your car uses no fuel.

Engine braking isn’t just a skill; it’s a driving cheat code. You’ll save wear on your brakes, make your driving smoother, and maybe even enjoy a little extra cash from the fuel savings.

Plus, nothing says “I know my car” like downshifting with precision and slowing down with style. So, next time you’re out on the road, let your engine do some of the heavy lifting – your brakes (and your passengers) will thank you for it!